San Francisco Relocation Guide - Antevia

Author Amy Tan grew up in the neighborhood. Her book the Joy Luck Club is based on
her experiences here as well as it chronicles the neighborhood's history.
The Chinatown has served as a backdrop for several movies and television shows. It has
also been featured in several food television programs dealing with ethnic Chinese
cuisine.
New "Chinatowns" in the Bay Area
Within the city of San Francisco
Because of aforementioned conditions in Chinatown, several Chinese enclaves or "new
Chinatowns" have sprung up across the city. Most notable are a section of Clement Street
between Arguello Boulevard & Park Presidio in the Richmond District, Irving Street
between 19th Avenue and 24th Avenue, and Noriega Street between 19th Avenue and
25th Avenue, both in the Sunset District.
Unlike in most Chinatowns in North America, ethnic Chinese refugees from Vietnam
have not established businesses in San Francisco's Chinatown district – undisputedly the
largest of its kind in North America – due to high property values and rents. Instead,
many Chinese Vietnamese – as opposed to ethnic Vietnamese who tended to congregate
in larger numbers in San Jose – have established a separate Vietnamese enclave on
Larkin Street in the heavily working-class Tenderloin district of San Francisco, where it
is now known as the city's "Little Saigon" and not as a "Chinatown" per se. As with
historic Chinatown, Little Saigon plans to construct an arch signifying its entrance, as
well as directional street signs leading to the community.
Surrounding areas
Countless suburban strip mall alternatives to the original Chinatown in the city of San
Francisco proper have been developed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and these
are considered the most notable and provide comparative ease and conveniences to
immigrant shoppers thus reducing the incentive and necessity for immigrants to go to the
filthy and heavy traffic Chinatown. This is partly to be attributed to the aggressive growth
of the highly popular 99 Ranch Market chain of south California in recent years and
putting them in direct competition with the older established Chinatown enclaves, which
have more mom-and-pop operations. Often, unlike the traditional Cantonese-speaking
Chinatowns in San Francisco or Oakland as populated by mostly old-timers, Mandarin
Chinese is the lingua franca of these communities.